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Frank Salmon says his firm will continue to pick off one target a year following CCI and Interactive Ideas buys

CMS Distribution has pledged to continue making an acquisition a year after completing the integration of its latest conquest.

Talking to CRN, CMS Distribution founder Frank Salmon said the distributor is in talks with targets that can complement recent purchases CCI and Interactive Ideas, the latter of which is now trading as CMS Distribution following a two-month integration process.

"It's our ambition to acquire a business this year. Ideally, as we go forth, we will acquire one business each year as we continue to enhance our service offering to our customers."

Interactive Ideas, which partners with the likes of Red Hat, SolarWinds and Attachmate, takes CMS one step closer to its 2014 revenue goal of £200m. The acquisition also adds an office in Enfield to CMS' existing bases in west London, Harrogate and Kiltimagh in Ireland.

Salmon claimed the two months it took to migrate Interactive Ideas' customer, vendor and product information to its SAP platform represents a record for the industry.

"We had a lot of learning with CCI. We built out a solid [ERP] platform in 2012 which went online in 2013. It's much less complex once you have a solid platform to migrate onto."

January has seen two of the UK's largest distribution groups, Westcoast Holdings and VIP, acquire reseller businesses (Viglen and Ergo, respectively) but Salmon said CMS would remain trade-only, adding there is no shortage of distribution targets out there.

"We are certainly not in business to create a hybrid model, which seems to be a trend. We will remain a strict, trade-only VAD," he said.

"There are some good [distribution] companies out there that are at a cross-roads in that, do they invest significantly in the business, or do they sell up? For us, it is all about timing. If you find the right company that is at that cross-roads, certainly CMS can enhance their existing business and bring more value to their customers."

Salmon said CMS has kept on all of Interactive's staff, including managing director Mike Trupp.

"We are not in the business of destroying value but, rather, enhancing the value offering," he said. "The great thing about Interactive Ideas is we now have a team of 36 people so we can offer more brands to existing customers and those of Interactive Ideas."